King's Pet
by samettikettu
Summary: The Straw Hats find themselves another crew member after leaving Thriller Bark, but this time Luffy isn't too thrilled. Who is this animal and why does he remind him of someone he sees nightmares of? No one would have guessed what would happen between the new member and the captain, not even the captain himself. [pre-timeskip, LucLu fic]


**[A/N]**

**THIS IS A **_PREQUEL_ **FOR THE NEXT MULTIPLE CHAPTER FIC I'M WORKING ON WITH.**

**MY IDEA WAS TO START PUBLISHING THIS AFTER ONE OF MY CURRENT MULTI-CHAP FIC IS OVER OR CLOSE TO ITS END. **or I'll just end up updating this in secret from my current fics so shhh!** I'M NOT SAYING ANYTHING YET BUT YOU CAN PROBABLY GUESS THE PAIRING ALREADY! :D I'M JUST SAYING THAT THIS COUPLE NEEDS MORE STORIES AND SINCE IT IS MY SECRET-OTP I'M MORE THAN WILLING TO WRITE IT!**

**Characters - Eiichiro Oda**  
><strong>Story - samettikettu<strong>

[EDIT] 20.3.-14

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><p>The Mugiwara crew watched as the Marines raided the Sunny Go. The ship had taken a lot of damage from the earlier ship battle, but on the bright side two of three Marine ships were take down by the brave ship. To minimalize Sunny and the crew's injuries, Luffy had ordered Franky to stop and let the Navy come on board. It had been a hard decision but as the captain, Luffy had to think about his crew.<p>

The Navy Captain was a foreign face to them all but so far the Mugiwara crew had only been chased by Smoker and Tashigi so they welcomed the new faces.

"I'm here to have a word with your captain, Monkey D Luffy!" the new Marine captain declared. He had kept his voice steady and hadn't shown any kind of fright when he said the infamous pirate captain's name.

Zoro stepped aside, revealing the short, raven haired boy with a straw hat on his head. A leopard sat by his feet, its tail tightly wrapped around the boy's thin ankle.  
>"I'm Luffy, the captain. What do you want?"<p>

"A word with you, please. _Alone._"

"I have nothing to hide from my crew. If you have something to say, do it in front of my crew", Zoro and Sanji both smirked. Their captain sure was unpredictable. Whenever they were facing a strong enemy or the Navy, Luffy would go into Captain Mode, which meant that he acted more mature and took big respontabilities. Everytime this happened, the crew couldn't believe that it was their little troublemaking glutton who was talking.

"Very well", the Marine man cleared his troath.  
>"My men have hidden bombs in your ship and in the waters around the ship. If you wish to save your crew, you will follow me to my ship and come to the HQ with me, where someone from higher above wants to have a word with you. I promise I will personally bring you back later."<p>

Sanji took a step forward, followed by Franky and Brook. Nami threw a nasty look at the Marine and Robin crossed her arms and stood by Franky's side to protect her captain.  
>Zoro scowled, he saw from the corner of his eye that Luffy had a troubled expression on his face. He had dropped his Captain look and was seriously troubled.<br>The young captain bit his lip.  
>What to do, what to do?!<p>

A low growl broke Luffy from his musings. The boy looked down and met the two piercing yellow eyes, full of concern. The tail around the boy's ankle tightened and the big cat glared the uniform men while snarling.  
>Luffy smiled and petted his newest companion.<p>

"Well then? What are you going to do, Straw hat?"

"Do you promise that my friends will be safe here while I'm gone with you?"

"Luffy no!" Usopp and Chopper's horrified yell came from behind Nami. The other crew members shared the equal look which told the captain that they didn't like the idea at all.

"I promise. Your friends will be unharmed if they stay right in this peculiar spot the whole time. Nothing will happen to them."

"Fine then", Luffy took a step forward, almost falling over because the cat hadn't released its hold around his ankle. The captain looked at his new friend apologetically. He untied the tail and proceeded towards the Marine Captain. When he was next to Zoro, Luffy removed his hat and gave it to him. The First mate seemed confused by the act but soon understood the meaning, 'you are now in charge. Take good care of my treasure'. The greenette nodded.

"I'm ready."

"Good."

The Navy Captain said something to a man behind him, who in turn gave a pair of sea-stone handcuffs to him.  
>"I'm sorry for asking this but I want you to wear these. Just to be sure that you won't try anything funny."<p>

"I wouldn't try anything anyway because my friends' lives are at stake... but let's do this your way."

Sanji threw his cigarette on the ground and kicked it. How could their Captain be so trusting and so, _so..._  
>"Sanji-kun", Nami spoke, making the blond cook look at her. The woman shook her head. It was no use.<p>

Luffy was led to the Marine battle ship. Just when they were removing the bridge connecting the two ships, a loud growl broke the silence. The young captain turned around to witness his sniper and musician trying to keep the newest member of the crew still. But the huge cat beast broke free, not even Franky could stop him when the leopard jumped from Sunny on board of the Marine ship. The cat ran and dodged the men wearing white and blue until it was behind the Straw Hat-less captain. The cat let out a low growl informing the others that he wasn't leaving his human's side even if it meant to kill everyone.

"Thank you, Lulu", Luffy smiled, then looked up to meet the frightened look on the Marine Captain's face. "I hope you don't mind an extra passenger, _Captain_."

The Marine scowled at the pirate but remained silent.

Luffy grinned cheekily and ruffled the rough fur of the cat affectionately. With Lulu he felt better, and since his powers were worn off by the sea-stone he had felt helpless and scared but not anymore. With Lulu by his side, Luffy knew he'd face anyone and anything without faltering.

The leopard looked up and felt a rush of relief fill him when he saw the content look on his human's face. No way was he going to let Luffy go on his own to a Marine ship with his powers taken from him.  
>No way in Hell.<br>He was going to protect Luffy with his life, and if it came to that, he'd even die for him.

He owed that to him for giving him a new chance in life.

He would always keep his word. Even if it meant to lie about his true identity to the person he cared the most in the world. He couldn't risk his safety. He knew he was acting selfishly but what could he do? No matter how many years it would take, he'd hide his true self from Luffy. This was his mission, to keep his identity hidden from everyone was his goal and he took his goals seriously.

Because that was how the former CP9 worked.

**...to be continued...**


End file.
